by: Tad Cronn
Filed under Business, Christianity, Constitution, Family, Law, Politics
Filed under Business, Christianity, Constitution, Family, Law, Politics
In the end, all the Left’s clucking and squawking about Chick-fil-A
owner Dan Cathy and the organizing of a nationwide boycott because of
the company’s supposed anti-gay policies paid off big time — for
Chick-fil-A and supporters of the First Amendment.
As the Left’s boycotts tend to do, this one backfired in grand style,
resulting in neighborhood-circling lines at Chick-fil-A restaurants
around the country and record-setting profits for the company.
When Cathy first uttered support for the biblical definition of marriage — one man, one woman — he didn’t say anything that should have been the least bit controversial in a country that is still majority Christian.
When Cathy first uttered support for the biblical definition of marriage — one man, one woman — he didn’t say anything that should have been the least bit controversial in a country that is still majority Christian.
But the Left in this country is so hell-bent on replacing traditional
morals and has so dumbed down its own supporters, that liberals in the
media and on blogs everywhere instantly swung into action, straining to
interpret Cathy’s words as hate speech against gays and gay “marriage.”
In the media and on the Net, liberals concocted all sorts of phony explanations as to why Chick-fil-A, which really does just try to sell good chicken sandwiches, was akin to a Nazi death camp for gays: Chick-fil-A discriminates against gay families, Chick-fil-A won’t let gays sit in its restaurants, Chick-fil-A won’t give franchises to gays, Chick-fil-A supports American Family Association in killing gays in Uganda (an anti-conservative twofer).
All of it was nonsense, of course. Cathy holds his Christian beliefs and does expect his stores to be closed on Sundays, and he supports pro-family causes, but the company hasn’t got a discriminating bone in its chicken.
Then, when the mayors of Chicago, Boston and other burgs chimed in, threatening to use their government powers to keep Chick-fil-A from opening any restaurants in their towns, things quickly moved beyond the usual bullying of Christians.
Attempts by gay rights activists to compare Chick-fil-A to segregated lunch counters rang hollow from the beginning, but when radicals like Chicago Alderman Joe Moreno and Mayor Rahm Emanuel jumped in to chase the Bible-believing Christians out of town, it became crystal clear who the real discriminators are.
Even that champion of liberal extremism the ACLU stepped up to tell Chicago to back off. “The government can regulate discrimination in employment or against customers, but what the government cannot do is to punish someone for their words,” Adam Schwartz, ACLU senior attorney, said.
What the ACLU termed “viewpoint discrimination” was in danger of becoming something else, full-blown fascism. Because that’s what fascism is, the authoritarian use of government power to control private enterprise, crush opposition and declare who is desirable and undesirable.
And that’s why Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day on Wednesday was a soaring success and the Left’s planned counter-demonstration, a gay “kiss-in” on Friday, was mostly a bust. Across the country, some gay couples showed up to take pictures of themselves making out in front of Chick-fil-A restaurants, but if anything that just seemed to drum up more business for the chain. Except for an incident of pro-gay graffiti in Torrance, Calif., the “kiss-in” was mostly unremarkable.
In a reasonably sane world, that would be the end of the whole kerfuffle (although experience suggests it won’t be). It wasn’t about the chicken, and it sure wasn’t about hate since no gays were ever discriminated against.
What finally happened, though, is that a whole lot of previously complacent Americans realized what the Left really was cooking up for the country and instead decided to take a stand for freedom of speech and religion.
Let the liberals chew on that.
In the media and on the Net, liberals concocted all sorts of phony explanations as to why Chick-fil-A, which really does just try to sell good chicken sandwiches, was akin to a Nazi death camp for gays: Chick-fil-A discriminates against gay families, Chick-fil-A won’t let gays sit in its restaurants, Chick-fil-A won’t give franchises to gays, Chick-fil-A supports American Family Association in killing gays in Uganda (an anti-conservative twofer).
All of it was nonsense, of course. Cathy holds his Christian beliefs and does expect his stores to be closed on Sundays, and he supports pro-family causes, but the company hasn’t got a discriminating bone in its chicken.
Then, when the mayors of Chicago, Boston and other burgs chimed in, threatening to use their government powers to keep Chick-fil-A from opening any restaurants in their towns, things quickly moved beyond the usual bullying of Christians.
Attempts by gay rights activists to compare Chick-fil-A to segregated lunch counters rang hollow from the beginning, but when radicals like Chicago Alderman Joe Moreno and Mayor Rahm Emanuel jumped in to chase the Bible-believing Christians out of town, it became crystal clear who the real discriminators are.
Even that champion of liberal extremism the ACLU stepped up to tell Chicago to back off. “The government can regulate discrimination in employment or against customers, but what the government cannot do is to punish someone for their words,” Adam Schwartz, ACLU senior attorney, said.
What the ACLU termed “viewpoint discrimination” was in danger of becoming something else, full-blown fascism. Because that’s what fascism is, the authoritarian use of government power to control private enterprise, crush opposition and declare who is desirable and undesirable.
And that’s why Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day on Wednesday was a soaring success and the Left’s planned counter-demonstration, a gay “kiss-in” on Friday, was mostly a bust. Across the country, some gay couples showed up to take pictures of themselves making out in front of Chick-fil-A restaurants, but if anything that just seemed to drum up more business for the chain. Except for an incident of pro-gay graffiti in Torrance, Calif., the “kiss-in” was mostly unremarkable.
In a reasonably sane world, that would be the end of the whole kerfuffle (although experience suggests it won’t be). It wasn’t about the chicken, and it sure wasn’t about hate since no gays were ever discriminated against.
What finally happened, though, is that a whole lot of previously complacent Americans realized what the Left really was cooking up for the country and instead decided to take a stand for freedom of speech and religion.
Let the liberals chew on that.